Elmont native heads to Nigeria on a mission

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It was supposed to be the perfect event as Joanna Logan, 29, of Elmont, readied her home for a big fundraiser barbecue on July 22. Logan, a mother and educator, was raising money to go on a mission to Nigeria to deliver medical and educational aid with the Relume Foundation, a Queens based nonprofit that serves parts of New York City, Long Island and

Nigeria.

“I was a little nervous, because it was my first fundraiser,” Logan said. “But I ended up getting sick the night before, and then it also rained that day, so we didn’t get as many people as we’d hoped.”

While the crowd wasn’t all Logan expected it to be, she found another wave of support through the fundraising site, classy.org. Logan has been able to raise more than $1,000, which helps pay for lodging, medical equipment and educational supplies for her mission. Sherri Adeosun, the co-founder of the Relume Foundation, will travel with her husband and Logan to the Idogo village in Nigeria’s Ogun state.

“It’ll be a two-day trip, where we’ll deliver medical supplies that we purchased from a nearby city and set up tents for all the medical services we’ll be offering,” Adeosun said.

The Relume Foundation partners with about 80 local volunteers in Nigeria’s cities as they travel into small villages to deliver aid twice a year. Adeosun said volunteer surgeons, doctors, dentists and optometrists help give thousands of villagers the medical services they desperately need. Volunteers also help screen children for malaria, which has seasonal spikes in West Africa.

“It’s going to be two full days of non-stop work, and I’m glad Joanna is coming with us to get things done,” Adeosun said.

Logan will travel to Nigeria on Aug. 24 — her first trip outside the Western Hemisphere. The Relume Foundation will hold its next mission in February.

Logan’s fundraiser page can be viewed until her departure at www.classy.org/fundraiser/1509191.